Littledean Jail is more than just a jail...

Here’s a brief insight into what to expect here on display...

∙ Punk Rock Memorabilia.∙ Village Stocks and Pillory.∙ Original UK Government issue Hangman's Nooses.∙ The Witchfinder General.∙ Celebrity Sleaze. Scandal and Debauchery.∙ Fred and Rose West - 25 Cromwell Street.∙ Serial Killers Letters and Artwork.∙ The UK's Only Quadrophenia, 1960's Revisited and A Taste of Northern Soul Down Here In The South Exhibition.∙ Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE). ∙ True Crime Memorabilia, Murderabilia, Maimerabilia, TV Crime Memorabilia. ∙ Witchcraft, Paganism, Wiccan, Satanism, The Occult and Secret Societies Exhibition.∙ Lady Emilia - Witch of the Forest.∙ Ku Klux Klan Robes, insignia and Memorabilia.∙ The SAS Who Dares Wins and UK Special Forces exhibition. The Special Air Service (SAS). The Special Boat Service (SBS). WW2 - Special Operations Executive (SOE). ∙ Baphomet and Ouija board.∙ The Grim Reaper.∙ The Guillotine and Body Cages.∙ Instruments of punishment and torture through the ages.∙ A model of Littledean Jail created from 56,000 matches.∙ A seriously sad and disturbing exhibition area relating to the horrors of the Nazi, Holocaust Years, including genuine death camp and Nazi SS uniforms, insignia etc. (lest we forget)∙ A genuine murder victim’s full size skeleton.∙ Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts, British Freikorps, Fascism in Britain.∙ Bizarre fetishes and fantasies, an interesting selection of the tools of the trade!∙ Cons to icons insight including personal exhibit items.∙ The works and personal exhibits of Britain’s maddest, hardest and most dangerous prisoners in the UK including Charles Bronson, The Kray twins and many more ∙ Witchcraft memorabilia - including voodoo dolls.∙ Tools and weapons used by the criminal underworld and street gangs.∙ Dr. Who Dalek.∙ The UK’s largest private collection of British and foreign Police memorabilia, including police weapons, uniforms, Victorian hand painted truncheons, tipstaffs and insignia.∙ Hangman’s noose used on “the man they couldn’t hang” - John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee.∙ Freaks of nature, oddities and curiosities.∙ Indonesian fertility statue (dare you touch the forbidden fruit?). Please note we cannot guarantee pregnancy!!∙ An impressive signed pictorial history of crime, including a vast collection of autographed and signed materials from world-renowned infamous and notorious real life alleged villains and criminals.∙ Popular fictional, TV, cinema screen characters and glamour queens. From the hands of Death… Artwork and correspondence from the world’s most infamous and notorious serial killers - An intriguing and psychological insight for sure!∙ Banned violent toy collections.∙ Lady Diana's letters and lots, lots more...!!!

LINDA CALVEY…"THE BLACK WIDOW"… NOTORIOUS FORMER ARMED ROBBER, GANGSTER & ALLEGED MURDERER WHO SERVED 18 YEARS IN PRISON FOR A CRIME SHE HAS ALWAYS DENIED COMMITTING … YOU AS VISITORS TO THE JAIL DECIDE FOR YOURSELVES ??? Click below for more information. The "Black Widow"

RUTH ELLIS (9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) WAS THE LAST WOMEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, AFTER BEING CONVICTED OF THE MURDER OF HER LOVER, DAVID BLAKELY. HERE IS A BRIEF ORIGINAL NEWSREEL FOOTAGE SURROUNDING THE CONTROVERSIAL & more. Click here.

ABOVE: a short video showing highlights of the spooky cult horror 1974 film ” HOUSE OF WHIPCORD” featuring some of the many scenes shot in Littledean Jail, Littledean Village, Lydney and other Forest Of Dean areas .

A BRIEF TOUR OF THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL...

For the very best of what to do, see, eat, drink and stay in the Royal Forest of Dean, visit the premier website for exploring Gloucestershire...

Life Inside...

Life inside the Littledean Jail was seemingly far better than life outside - for most of the Forest community. Life outside was certainly hard, most if not all those that lived in and around the Forest of Dean in the 18th century were destitute, disease ridden, illiterate and very, very poor.

Those that were imprisoned here were at least guaranteed food, a place to sleep and some form of education, if only in religious instruction - namely Catholicism.

Crimes Committed...

On 18th November 1791, Joseph Marshall, a 19 year old labourer was the first inmate admitted here. His crime - stealing a spade. Convictions here ranged from petty theft, lewd women (prostitutes), military deserters, fraud and embezzlement, assault and battery to murder.

Children as young as 8 years old were incarcerated here and whipped with the birch, cat of nine tails and kept in solitary confinement. Between 1837-1838 three babies were born here, though only one survived.

First Gloucestershire Policeman killed in the line of duty!

Police Sergeant Samuel Beard stationed here at Littledean Jail was the first policeman in the County to be killed in the line of duty at Speech House Hotel in the Forest of Dean in 1861.

There is a tombstone in Littledean churchyard sacred to the memory of this brave officer.

Witchcraft...

The last woman in Gloucestershire to be charged with witchcraft was tried here at the Jailhouse in 1906. Cinderford wise woman, Ellen Hayward (known as Old Ellen) conducted her own defence and was subsequently found not guilty!!!

Redundant...

In 1854 Littledean Jail was no longer used as a House of Correction, used instead as a Police Station, remand prison and petty sessional Court from 1874. It was also to serve as a headquarters for the County’s mounted police, stabling horses here inside the one time treadmill outbuilding.

It was also used as a barracks and archive store during the war for Gloucester Cathedral and the County’s Public Records Office.

Saved...

Film Set...

The titillating Hammer House of Horrors cult film - ‘House of Whipcord’ was set and filmed here in 1974 - still very much a cult film today. Littledean Jail still retains its magnetism as the perfect location for film location projects.

Change of Ownership

The police station itself was closed here in 1972 and the last court session sat here on 24th October 1985. The end of an era!

It was sold to Ecclesiastical Insurance Group in 1986 and used for their computer mainframe, archive records store and disaster recovery unit.

The Year 2003 - New Inmates Arrive!

In September 2003 the Jail was purchased by its new owners and refurbished partly as a Baronial style family home and partly to house one of the world’s largest and finest private collections of crime related memorabilia, ephemera and curiosities - ‘The Crime Through Time Collection’.

Andy Jones, some say controversial owner of the Jail and the collection, inherited with the property the title of ‘Master of the Gaol’ and his wife Nicola (‘the boss’), the flattering title of ‘Matron’. They moved into the property along with their six children in September 2004.

How to AVOID Littledean Jail!

When you approach Littledean, the ‘Gateway to the Forest of Dean’, (don’t) follow the brown tourist signs?... (surely not!)

Cars can be accommodated at the entrance to the jail whilst COACHES should simply use the Littledean village bus stops as ‘drop off points’. These are situated approximately 80 metres from the entrance to the jail on either side of the road.

Escape from Littledean Jail!

Gloucester is just 20 minutes from the Jail as is Tintern Abbey, but if you want to get further away, Bristol is 45 minutes, (you have to head down the A48 and cross the Severn Bridge at Chepstow!) and Cheltenham, Hereford and Cardiff are only 40 minutes from the Jail. Birmingham is an hour and a bit ,whilst London is just under 3 hours away - but who’d want to escape to there!

Standing at the gateway to the Royal Forest of Dean, this former House of Correction – Littledean Jail was designed and built by the Pioneer of Prison Reform – Sir George Onesiphorous Paul and leading Prison Architect of his day – William Blackburn. As a result of the sudden death of Blackburn it was completed under the supervision of his new brother-in-law, architect William Hobson in 1791.

This remarkable Grade II* listed building was built as the most up-to-date, revolutionary House of Correction of its time, and was later seen as the Government’s role model for London’s Pentonville Prison and taken across the seas for the world famous Philadelphian Cherry Hill Penitentiary System in America. It was built for the miserly sum of £1,650. The building work was started in 1788 by Gabriel Rogers, who went bankrupt as a result of not being able to complete the work at such low costs. London Builder J. Fentiman was brought in to finish the job.

Behind the austere gatehouse entrance, the prison, with it’s formidable sandstone façade remains much as it was when first built. Steeped in history and infamy, its awesome appearance provides a stark reminder of the hard labour and craftsmanship needed to build this architecturally important jailhouse.